National Center for Advanced Materials Performance

NCAMP, the National Center for Advanced Materials Performance, works with the FAA
and industry partners to qualify material systems and populate a shared materials
database that can be viewed publicly. NCAMP started as a FAA-funded program within
the National Institute for Aviation Research at Wichita State University and stemmed
from NASA's 1995 Advanced General Aviation Transport Experiment (AGATE).

What is the benefit to aircraft manufacturers?Instead of qualifying an entire material system, manufacturers can pull a system from
the NCAMP database, prove equivalency and gain FAA certification in a quicker and
cheaper manner than a typical qualification approach.

What is the benefit to materials suppliers?Material suppliers can work with NCAMP to qualify material systems without having
to be linked to an ongoing aircraft certification program. This allows the material
supplier to get their material out into the market via a public forum with generated
allowables and FAA certification.

Which material systems are currently NCAMP-qualified?

Cytec 5215 (Discontinued)

T40-0800 Unitape

T650 3k-PW

T650 6k-5HS

Cytec 5250-5 (Discontinued)

T650 Unitape

T650 3k-70-PW

T650 6k-5HS

Cytec 5320-1

T650 Unitape

T650 3k-PW

Cytec EP2202

IMG7 Unitape

T650 3k-70-PW

Cytec (formerly ACG) MTM45-1

Style 7781 E Glass

Style 6781 S2 Glass

3K PW G30-500 Fabric

12K AS4 Unidirectional

12K HTS5631 Unidirectional (HTS40)

12K HT55

IM7 Unidirectional

AS4 PW

Hexcel 8552

AS4 Unitape

IM7 Unitape

AS4 PW

Newport NCT4708

47108 Unitape

Toray (formerly TenCate) BT250E-6

IM7 GP Unidirectional

AS4C 3K-PW

S2 Unidirectional

Toray (formerly TenCate) TC250

12k HTS40

How do we get involved?

Interested in qualifying a material system or manufacturing test panels?Contact Royal Lovingfoss atrlovingfoss@niar.wichita.eduor (316) 978-5317.

Interested in reviewing process reports before approval?Sign up on theNCAMP portal.

Simulation Programs(for educational purposes only)For the simulation programs below,muis the population average,sigmais the population standard deviation,nis the sample size for basis value calculations andNis the number of basis value calculations

AGATE History

AGATE Shared Database ProcessIn recent years, NASA, industry and the FAA have worked together to help the aviation
industry deliver more aircraft in less time by sharing central material qualification
databases. This concept was first tested with the databases formed through the Advanced
General Aviation Transport Experiments (AGATE), formed by NASA in 1995 and led by
NIAR at WSU. The purpose of AGATE was to develop affordable new technology, industry
standards and certification methods for general aviation aircraft.

Before AGATE, the traditional approach to qualifying materials meant individual companies
used "customized" qualification programs, leading to detailed and expensive procedures
for each company. Costs increased further as other procedures were established for
structural testing, manufacturing control and repair. As a result, most programs were
limited to using materials previously qualified for other programs, which led to using
older, outdated material and not taking advantage of the latest technology and material
advances in the industry.

With the creation of AGATE, theAGATE Shared DatabaseProcess was formed. The shared databases created using the AGATE process allowed a
manufacturer to select a pre-approved composite material system to fabricate parts
through a smaller subset of testing for a specific application (known as equivalency).
The materials accepted into these shared databases required that the raw materials
be manufactured in accordance with process control documents and material specifications,
which impose control of the key physical, chemical and mechanical properties of the
material.

Through the joint collaboration of two government agencies, NASA and FAA, AGATE was
able to reduce the time required for certification of new composite materials by a
factor of four and the cost of certification by a factor of 10. The timeline below
highlights the progress AGATE made, leading to NCAMP.